ARRL Field Day 2015 • June 27–28 a Fun Time for the San Angelo Amateur Radio Club!
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The Official Newsletter of the SAARC • June-July 2015 ARRL Field Day 2015 • June 27–28 A fun time for the San Angelo Amateur Radio Club! By Ken Grimm / KG5BPY OPERATIONS AT SAM’S CLUB What an experience! Club members quickly got the command tent relocated to It promised to be just a cool, breezy day — perfect for a higher ground after a torrential downpour earlier in the nice 2015 ARRL Field Day. A small rain storm with a well-defined rain shaft formed day. All of the equipment and public relations material got to the west and radar indicated it was passing over the Twin moved in time, and members bravely held on to the tents Buttes Reservoir, just a few miles away. during the high winds and pounding rain to keep them from Then a very small updraft formed to the north of the flying off into the Sam’s Club parking lot. staging site and began to grow. And grow. RAPIDLY started Despite the rough start thanks to Mother Nature, the club growing! got up and running quickly and made many contacts. A large rain event was developing and heading straight for ...Continued on page 3 Photo credit: David Wolfe/KA5VTG www.w5qx.org Facebook: SJTAmateurRadioClub • TGC.ARES Concho Valley Two Meter Net Concho Valley This net meets every Monday night at 8:00 p.m. (2000) on 146.94/103.5 or 145.27/88.5 as an alternate repeater. All amateurs licensed to operate on that Open FM Repeaters frequency are invited to participate. 2 Meter *NCS = Net Control Station 145.27– San Angelo PL 88.5 Date NCS Check Ins Duration 146.88– San Angelo PL 88.5 (minutes) 146.94– San Angelo PL 103.5 147.06+ San Angelo No Tone 7/6 KB5FNK 13 12 147.30+ San Angelo PL 88.5 6/29 KB5FNK 14 10 146.72– Eldorado PL 100.00 6/15 KB5FNK 18 19 147.34+ Robert Lee PL 88.5 06/1 KB5FNK 15 15 146.90– Brady PL 162.2 147.36+ Brady PL 114.8 (Echo Link Node) Thank you! 147.39+ Eden PL 114.8 From Beth Lehmann 70 centimeters (Note: Ralph Stout/KA5ULE 441.750+ San Angelo PL 162.2 and Ken Grimm/KG5BPY gave 442.250+ San Angelo PL 162.2 presentations to teachers and 444.225+ Robert Lee PL 162.2 administrators at the STEM (Science, 444.350+ San Angelo PL 162.2 Technology, Engineering and 444.875+ Brady PL 162.2 Mathematics) Conference. This is a nice note received from the promoters of the event.) 6 Meter The Region 15 STEM Committee would like to thank you for making 53.63– San Anglo PL 88.5 our first STEM Expo a great success. Time and effort put into your Linked to 442.25 Repeater D-Star presentation was truly valued and appreciated. We hope that you will join us again at next year’s STEM Expo August 1st and 2nd, 2016. 444.550+ KG5CNG San Angelo Amateur Radio Club Officers Lake President: Hughbert Robinson/KC5NPC Nasworthy Vice President: David Behrend/KF5FNK Secretary/Treasurer: Bob Freeman/KD5PIX Activity Director: Ken Grimm/KG5BPY Emergency Coordinator: Bill Hinds/KG5BQF Grounds Chairman: Ralph Stout/KA5ULE Appointed Positions SAARC Trustee: Charlie Campbell/KC5EZZ Registered Agent: Charlie Campbell/KC5EZZ Public Information Officer: Matt Healy/W5MAT < 5513 Stewart Lane Mailing Address P.O. Box 4002 Club House Location San Angelo, TX 76902-4002 5513 Stewart Lane, Mathis Field, San Angelo, TX Page 2 • March 2015 www.w5qx.org A storm cell producing torrential downpour makes a bee line straight for the 2015 ARRL Field Day staging site at the corner of Southland and Sherwood Way at Sam’s Club. Members were able to secure all of the electronics and informational material before the downpour began. The dignity of the members took a hit when all got soaked to the bone being pummeled by high winds and rain, holding on to the tents to keep them from flying away. Photo credit: Ken Grimm/KG5BPY the staging site (see photo above). all were on batteries, generators, solar power or wind power. Mike Dominy/KD5URW, site coordinator, started This national exercise tested our equipment and capabilities directing the members on how to secure the site for what as well as honed our communication skills over the air. In was coming. Members scrambled to get equipment and all addition, Glenn Miller/AA5PK talked with satellites and of the informational collateral in safe places, out of the path ...Continued on next page of the oncoming rain storm. Everyone went into overdrive and got the site as secure as SAARC Field Day Video it could be, and then the outflow winds hit and then the rains. Check out the awesome video put together by club member Lots of rain. Pouring rain. Driving rain. David Wolfe/KA5VTG! The tent stakes came out of the ground and the wind Click here to enjoy > https://www.youtube.com/ strained the tents against the poles — members grabbed the watch?v=meCb1IgNgRI poles and held on for a wild ride that seemed to last forever — it was really about 15-20 minutes — but seemed like it would never stop. In that short time, at least 2 inches of rain was delivered, flooding the surrounding streets and leaving significant standing water at the site. It was several hours later before the site was dry enough to move the entire operation to a different, higher area of the lot. W5QX was finally on the air, making contacts! All of the radios used in the exercise operated “off the electrical grid.” None were plugged into an electrical outlet, www.w5qx.org March 2015 • Page 3 tried contacting the International Space Station. having fun. After the reset after the visit from Mother Nature, radios At the end of the contest period, the site was broken down, were fired up and contacts started being logged. trailers loaded up, and a convoy made its way back to the That afternoon, a pot luck dinner was offered up, and clubhouse to put away gear until the next exercise. delicious fare was available to the 37 members that The purpose of the exercise — to test members of the participated on Saturday. San Angelo Amateur Radio Club’s ability to communicate The next morning, Hughbert Robinson/KC5NPC, locally, county-wide, state-wide and nation-wide in an event provided his famous breakfast burritos for the team, fueling of a significant natural disaster or national emergency was the members up for a final day of making contacts and achieved. Scenes from the San Angelo Amateur Radio 2015 ARRL Field Day held June 27-28th at the corner of Sam’s Club on Sherwood Way and Southwest Blvd. Photos by David Wolfe/KA5VTG and Ken Grimm/KG5BPY Page 4 • March 2015 www.w5qx.org www.w5qx.org March 2015 • Page 5 Lots of publicity KKCN-FM: about 10 (8 recorded PSAs and 2 live mentions) A promotional article was posted on websites for KGKL- KGKL-AM: 25 (11 community calendar mentions and 14 FM and KGKL-AM: http://975kgkl.com/san-angelo- recorded PSAs) amateur-radio-participate-in-field-day-activities/ KNRX-FM: 12 (all recorded PSAs Total public service announcement mentions by local radio KELI-FM: 27 (15 community calendar mentions and 12 stations: recorded PSAs) KGKL-FM: about 15 (10 recorded PSAs and 5 live This article ran in the local news website gosanangelo.com: mentions) http://bit.ly/1LZIEvU Article for the 2015 Field Day that appeared in the online news site 975KGKL.com. Read the article here: http://bit.ly/1M4pzJX Page 6 • March 2015 www.w5qx.org Article for the 2015 Field Day that appeared in the online newspaper GoSanAngelo.com. Read the article here: http://bit.ly/1LZIEvU www.w5qx.org March 2015 • Page 7 Tom Green County Amateur Radio Emergency Service The Tom Green County ARES group meets the third Thursday at 7:00 p.m. (1900) of each month at the Clubhouse unless announced otherwise on the Monday net. The Tom Green County ARES group is sponsored by the San Angelo Amateur Radio Club. By Bill Hinds/KG5BQF • Looking at having a SET sometime in October • The new Section Manager for SW Texas is Ron Harden, • The next ARES Meeting will be held at 7:00pm on July KB5HGM from Abilene. (See West Texas Section News 16th at the clubhouse article on page 12) TGC-ARES gets a new training manual Chuck and Max Dixson (K5QZQ and K5FDC) have provided the TGC-ARES members with a book “Radio Traffic Handling Training Manual.” The book is a recap of “Traffic Training” by Jo Ann Keith/KA5AZK, first written in September of 2013. Some of the topics addressed are: • What is traffic? • Why learn traffic handling? • Basic net operations • The 4 parts of a message • Many form examples, common procedures, call signals, abbreviations, and so much more! This is a must-have for members, chock full of useful and relevant information for handling traffic in a mature and professional manner. TGC-ARES thanks you, Chuck and Max! Upcoming Hamfests/Conventions Date Event Location Information 07/18/2015 Tidelands Hamfest Texas City, TX tidelands.org 08/07/2015 South Texas Section Convention Austin, TX www.austinsummerfest.org (Austin Summerfest 2015) 10/03/2015 HamEXPO Belton, TX http://www.tarc.org/hamexpo/ 10/31/2015 South Texas Hamfest Aransas Pass, TX http://www.southtexashamfest. org Hamfests and Conventions are listed for Texas. Others may be found at http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/search. Page 8 • March 2015 www.w5qx.org SAARC Minutes the board recommendations to deal with the bank account June 11th, 2015 • 7:30 p.m.